This document provides an overview and introduction to building websites with Drupal, an open-source content management system (CMS). It discusses what a CMS is and compares Drupal to WordPress. Key features of Drupal are explained, including its use of modules, entities and fields, content types, taxonomy, and the Views module. Common modules are listed and it is noted that Drupal can be used to build various applications without coding. The document concludes with suggestions for getting started with Drupal development locally and lists resources for learning more.

1. Building with Drupal
Building Websites with Drupal - A Modular-Driven Open-Source CMS
Eric Sembrat | USG Rock Eagle, October 2014

3. USG Rock Eagle - October 2014
Eric Scott Sembrat - Georgia Tech
October 23rd - 08:15am (too early!)

4. PRESENTS

5. A modular-driven open-source CMS!
Eric Scott Sembrat - Georgia Tech
October 23rd - 08:15am

6. INTRODUCTION
CMS: AN OVERVIEW
WHAT IS A DRUPAL?
DRUPAL FEATURES
HOW TO GET STARTED
RESOURCES
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS

7. Introductions
(and a plug)

8. Eric Sembrat
• Web Manager - College of
Engineering, Georgia Tech
• Ph.D. Student - Instructional
Technology, Georgia State
!
!
• Website: http://ericsembrat.com
• Twitter: @esembrat

9. And now, for some plugs..

10. USGWeb Collaboration Group
• Communication list for web development
discussion between the 31 institutions
in the University System of Georgia.
!
• http://usgweb.gatech.edu

11. http://atlanta.buildguild.org/

12. Content Mgmt.
Systems Overview

13. What is a CMS?
• A content management system allows for the
creation, editing, and management of the website
from a web interface.
!
• Management can include:
• Theme / Appearance
• Content / Features
• Media / Photos
• Files / Uploads

14. Free Vs. Closed Source
• CMSs can come as open or closed source.
• Open: The community is building, extending, and
advancing the product.
• Closed: A company is building, extending, and
advancing the product.
!
• Open source products are more vulnerable to the
public discovery of hacks.

19. Security is not about open or closed source, but
rather about following stringent security
guidelines and procedures.
!
Open source allows the community to view and
validate the following of said security
procedures, as well as locating edge-case
security holes.

20. Who are the leaders?

21. Who are the leaders?
Wordpress
45%

22. Who are the leaders?
Wordpress Drupal
45% 15%

23. Who are the leaders?
Wordpress Drupal Everyone Else
45% 15% 12%
Assumes that 28% of the top 10k sites use custom, static services.

24. Why not Wordpress?
•Wordpress was initially designed as
a blogging tool.
!
• Many holdovers from that
development include:
• Pre-built theme packages
• One Size Fits All (OSFA) plugin
approach
• Limited user access permissions
• Heavy emphasis on Custom PHP
Code Writing

25. Alternative
• Drupal serves to take the best parts of Wordpress and
provide an enterprise-level environment for custom
content management.

26. What is a
DRUPAL, anyways?

27. What is Drupal?
• Drupal is a scalable, extendible, and
customizable CMS built to match a
wide-range of use cases and web
application offerings.
• First released in 2001
• Milestone releases every 1-2 years

28. Who Uses Drupal?

29. Who Uses Drupal?

30. Who Uses Drupal?

31. Who Uses Drupal?

32. Who Uses Drupal?

33. Who Uses Drupal?

34. Who Uses Drupal?

35. Modules
• Drupal has over 25,000 plugins (called
modules) that extend Drupal’s feature
set.
• Modules are built as components.
• Modules work with other modules.
• Modules are maintained by the community.
!
• Out of the box, Drupal has a very
limited feature-set.
• Modules are key to building up a Drupal site to
work the way you want.

36. DRUPAL Features
and options!

37. Entities & Fields
• Drupal’s content is composed of
entities and fields.
Profile
(entity)
Address
(field)
Full Name
(field)
Photo
(field)
Body Text
(field)

38. • Drupal’s content is composed of
entities and fields.
Profile
(entity)
Address
(field)
Full Name
(field)
Photo
(field)
Body Text
(field)
• Where entities can reference other
entities.
Friends
(field)
Entities & Fields

39. Content Types
• A content type is a collection of data
(fields) related to each other.
News
(CT)
Full Name
By Line Text
Photo Media
Body Text
Sidebar Text
Photo
Album
(CT)
Description
Category
Event
(CT)
Description
Start Time
End Time
Location
Photo Media
Photo Media
Slide
(CT)
Description
URL
Photo Media

40. Taxonomy
• A taxonomy allows you to pre-define
a list of items to be used in content
types.
• List can include fields
States
(Taxonomy)
State Name
Description
Rating
(Taxonomy)
Rating Score
Access
(Taxonomy)
Description
User Role
Photo Media
Age
(Taxonomy)
Description
Description Start Age
End Age

41. How Drupal Works

42. How Drupal Works
Standardized, reusable elements
!
(Fields - Name, number, postal address,
geographical location, image, YouTube video)

43. How Drupal Works
Entities
!
(Content types, users, taxonomy terms, etc.)
Standardized, reusable elements
!
(Fields - Name, number, postal address,
geographical location, image, YouTube video)

44. How Drupal Works
Dynamic display and organization of content
Entities
!
(Content types, users, taxonomy terms, etc.)
Standardized, reusable elements
!
(Fields - Name, number, postal address,
geographical location, image, YouTube video)

45. How Drupal Works
Theme framework, theme base, Sass/CSS, and
theme settings
Dynamic display and organization of content
Entities
!
(Content types, users, taxonomy terms, etc.)
Standardized, reusable elements
!
(Fields - Name, number, postal address,
geographical location, image, YouTube video)

46. How Drupal Works
Theme framework, theme base, Sass/CSS, and
theme settings
Dynamic display and organization of content
Entities
!
(Content types, users, taxonomy terms, etc.)
Standardized, reusable elements
!
(Fields - Name, number, postal address,
geographical location, image, YouTube video)

47. Entity Display
• The basic display of entities and
fields are barebones by design.
• This is where Views comes in.

48. Views
• “… Views is a tool to build queries. You can even
inspect the query as you build it.”
!
• “Views provides you with a powerful tool for creating
custom mashups of content and more. You can
pull together any information on your site and craft
dynamic lists, grids, tables, reports, RSS feeds, and
navigation. Views can also be configured to show
different results based on visitor interactions, such as
displaying posts submitted in the last month, posts
with comments and much more.”

49. Views

50. Views
Content!
Basic Page

51. Views
View!
Content: Slides
Display As: Slideshow
Content!
Basic Page

52. Views
View!
Content: Slides
Display As: Slideshow
View!
Content: Facts
Display As:
Unformatted List
Content!
Basic Page

53. Views
View!
Content: Slides
Display As: Slideshow
View!
Content: Facts
Display As:
Unformatted List
View!
Content: Video
Content!
Basic Page
Display As: Unformatted List

54. Views
View!
Content: Slides
Display As: Slideshow
View!
Content: Facts
Display As:
Unformatted List
View!
Content: News
Content!
Basic Page
Display As: Unformatted List
View!
Content: Video
Display As: Unformatted List

55. Common Modules
• Views
• Date
• Entity
• Panels
• Rules
• Revisioning
• Flexslider
• CKEditor
• Masquerade

56. Resulting Sites
• With the modular component structure, Drupal can
be utilized to build various web applications without
ever having to write a single line of code.

57. Knowledge Mgmt.

70. Getting started
with DRUPAL!

71. Local Development
• The easiest way to get started with
Drupal is to build your first website.
!
• Acquia Dev Desktop
See my website for a presentation on local
Drupal development.

72. Hosting Requirements
• https://www.drupal.org/node/920682
• https://www.drupal.org/requirements
• Any server with PHP, MySQL, and Apache works!

73. DRUPAL Resources
to learn more!

74. Suggested Reading
• http://drupal.gatech.edu/
handbook/video-tutorials
• Free & Paid Training Videos
Available
!
• https://www.drupal.org/
documentation/build

75. QUESTIONS or
COMMENTS?

76. Questions? Comments?
Thanks for attending this session!